Mountains of Dawn

In the small den at Judith's apartment, Tanya prepared herself for the night. She doubted she would be able to sleep. There was a maniac around, one who was determined to see her dead. He was probably planning another of his deadly tricks as she lay there, tossing.

That's not all, she thought. Kevin hadn't snapped out of his awful mood for the entire afternoon. Even his goodbye kiss had been a cool, absent touch.

"Maybe you should give me a list of what I need to buy for you tomorrow morning," Judith said as she walked into the room. "Malcolm would rather you didn't show your face around town."

"I know. He told me so. Thanks, Judith." She dug into her bag, pulled out a sheet of paper, and handed it to Judith.

"Aren't you feeling well?" Judith asked.

Tanya shook her head.

"Sad?"

"Yes. It's Kevin, among other things. I've never seen him so upset, so belligerent. He seems to hate Malcolm."

Judith nodded. "And vice versa, I think. There's a clash of personalities between those two. That's most of their problem."

"Well, you're the expert in psychological profiles," Tanya said with an impish grin.

"Actually, I got a kick out of their confrontation, especially since the reason for it-you-stayed in the background most of the time."

"But I made the final decision," Tanya said. Her grin widened.

"That's true, and you surprised me again." Judith sighed. "I guess your profile will never be finished." She grabbed Tanya's pillow and fluffed it, then tossed it back on the bed. "Here you are, Tanya. Sleep well. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, what do you want to do with the afternoon?" Judith asked. She sat sprawled in a white wicker chair, Tanya in another.

"First, I want to see all the newspapers and clippings you collected about your heroic action. The action against the Shredder, I mean. Then I want to see the medal ceremony-the movie-all of that stuff. I couldn't get much information when I was on the Riviera, just what Malcolm sent me."

Judith fetched a big album and a roll of newspapers. "Let's sit on the floor," she proposed. "I'll have more space to spread out all the articles about me. Then I'll show you the videotape with the award ceremony."

They sat on the soft, light green carpet for hours, first sipping iced tea, then munching on a bag of microwaved popcorn.